Various devices have been provided for raising a variety of work platforms but these have generally contemplated the use of hydraulically operated booms with the work platform in fixed position adjacent the free end thereof. Such work platforms are illustrated, for example, in United States Letters Patent Nos. 3,584,705 and 3,776,367. The work platform of the present invention is of a type which is cantilevered forwardly and laterally of a tower which may be raised and lowered. Rails are carried by the tower in parallel relation thereto for supporting the platform to be raised and lowered thereon by cables carried by each side of the carriage raising and lowering same. The wheels ae subjected to wear as the carriage moves repeatedly up and down the rails. Wear of these and any other of the parts associated with the movement between the carriage and the rails is multiplied since any resulting lateral play between the wheels and the rails is transmitted and multiplied due to the laterally extending portions of the platform being cantilevered therefrom. Any movement of the carriage as tilting from side to side as the workers move therealong is most disconcerting when working on the upper portions of multi-story buildings and the like.